Jump to content

Cape Girardeau County, Missouri

From Niidae Wiki

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county

Cape Girardeau County (commonly called Cape County) is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri; its eastern border is formed by the Mississippi River. At the 2020 census, the population was 81,710.<ref name="QF">Template:Cite web</ref> The county seat is Jackson,<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> the first city in the US to be named in honor of President Andrew Jackson. Officially organized on October 1, 1812, the county is named after Ensign Sieur Jean Baptiste de Girardot, an official of the French colonial years. The "cape" in the county's name is named after a former promontory rock overlooking the Mississippi River; this feature was demolished during railroad construction. Cape Girardeau County is the hub of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson metropolitan area. Its largest city is Cape Girardeau.

History

[edit]

Cape Girardeau County was organized on October 1, 1812, as one of five original counties in the Missouri Territory after the US made the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It is named after Ensign Sieur Jean Baptiste de Girardot (also spelled Girardeau or Girardat), a French officer stationed 1704–1720 at Kaskaskia in the Illinois Country of New France. In 1733 he founded a trading post on the Mississippi River, which developed as the present-day city of Cape Girardeau.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The "cape" in the county name was a rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi River; the original cape rock was destroyed by railroad construction.

Jackson, Missouri is the county seat. The first Cape Girardeau County Courthouse was constructed in 1818 by John Davis. This courthouse burned in 1870. The present courthouse in Jackson was completed in 1908 and was designed by P.H. Weathers.

The county is the site of one of the oldest cold cases in the state of Missouri. Bonnie Huffman, a 20-year-old schoolteacher, was found murdered in a ditch just outside Delta on July 2, 1954. Her case was never solved.

Cape Girardeau is referenced in Dave Van Ronk's song "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me," which has found a place in the folk canon since its release in 1962. The song was featured prominently in the 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis. In the second verse, the singer refers to having "been all around Cape Girardeau and parts of Arkansas...poor boy, I've been all around this world."

Geography

[edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (1.3%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

The geography of Cape Girardeau County varies greatly. The areas around the towns of Delta and Dutchtown are flood plains, which were cultivated as cotton plantations. Western and northern areas are hilly and forested.

Adjacent counties

[edit]

Major highways

[edit]

Demographics

[edit]

Template:US Census population

As of the census<ref name="GR8">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2000, there were 68,693 people, 26,980 households, and 17,941 families residing in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 29,434 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the county was 92.13% White, 5.28% Black or African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.75% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.31% from other races, and 1.15% from two or more races. Approximately 0.91% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 26,980 households, out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.80% were married couples living together, 9.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.50% were non-families. 27.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.40% under the age of 18, 13.40% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 21.60% from 45 to 64, and 13.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $45,862, and the median income for a family was $58,037. Males had a median income of $32,371 versus $20,833 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,303. About 6.70% of families and 11.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 10.10% of those age 65 or over.

Religion

[edit]

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives County Membership Report (2010), Cape Girardeau County is part of the Bible Belt, with evangelical Protestantism being the most predominant religion. The most predominant denominations among residents in Cape Girardeau County who adhere to a religion are Roman Catholics (19.19%), Assemblies of God (19.13%), and Lutherans (LCMS) (16.58%).

2020 Census

[edit]
Cape Girardeau County Racial Composition<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Race Num. Perc.
White (NH) 67,393 82.5%
Black or African American (NH) 6,459 8%
Native American (NH) 170 0.21%
Asian (NH) 1,300 1.6%
Pacific Islander (NH) 14 0.02%
Other/Mixed (NH) 4,140 5.1%
Hispanic or Latino 2,234 2.73%

Education

[edit]

Of adults 25 years of age and older in Cape Girardeau County, 81.1% possess a high school diploma or higher while 24.2% hold a bachelor's degree as their highest educational attainment.

Public schools

[edit]
  • Delta R-V School District—Delta
    • Delta Elementary School (K–6)
    • Delta High School (7–12)
  • Oak Ridge R-VI School District—Oak Ridge
    • Oak Ridge Elementary School (K–6)
    • Oak Ridge High School (7–12)
  • Nell Holcomb R-IV School District—Egypt Mills
    • Nell Holcomb Elementary School (K–8)
  • Jackson R-II School District—Jackson
    • Gordonville Attendance Center (K–3)—Gordonville
    • Millersville Attendance Center (K–3)—Millersville
    • North Elementary School (K–4)
    • Orchard Drive Elementary School (K–4)
    • South Elementary School (PK–5)
    • West Lane Elementary School (K–4)
    • East Elementary School (PK-4)
    • Jackson Middle School (5-6)
    • Russell Hawkins Jr. High School (7-9)
    • Jackson High School (9–12)
  • Cape Girardeau Public Schools No. 63—Cape Girardeau
    • Alma Schrader Elementary School (K–4)
    • Blanchard Elementary School (K–4)
    • Clippard Elementary School (K–4)
    • Franklin Elementary School (K–4)
    • Jefferson Elementary School (K–4)
    • Cape Central Middle School (5–6)
    • Cape Central Jr. High School (7–8)
    • Cape Central High School (9–12)
    • Cape Girardeau Career & Technology Center (10–12)

Private schools

[edit]

Post-secondary education

[edit]

Public libraries

[edit]

Communities

[edit]

Cities

[edit]

Villages

[edit]

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Unincorporated communities

[edit]

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Notable people

[edit]

Politics

[edit]

Local

[edit]

Since the late 20th century voters at the local level have switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, which is now predominant in Cape Girardeau County. Republicans hold all of the elected positions in the county.

Template:Missouri county elected officials

State

[edit]
Past Gubernatorial Elections Results
Year Republican Democratic Third Parties
2024 74.25% 29,523 23.65% 9,405 2.10% 834
2020 72.53% 29,127 25.58% 10,272 1.90% 762
2016 65.70% 24,209 31.31% 11,539 2.99% 1,101
2012 56.02% 19,797 41.56% 14,686 2.43% 857
2008 56.23% 20,672 41.75% 15,348 2.02% 744
2004 65.26% 22,433 33.49% 11,511 1.25% 429
2000 62.50% 18,543 35.36% 10,491 2.14% 635
1996 49.68% 13,781 48.38% 13,422 1.94% 538
1992 54.41% 15,080 45.59% 12,636 0.00% 0
1988 70.08% 17,336 29.50% 7,298 0.42% 104
1984 70.39% 17,299 29.61% 7,276 0.00% 0
1980 66.50% 16,197 33.11% 8,064 0.39% 96
1976 56.62% 13,079 43.35% 10,013 0.03% 7
1972 57.09% 12,656 42.05% 9,322 0.85% 189
1968 37.96% 7,217 62.04% 11,795 0.00% 0
1964 42.74% 8,506 57.26% 11,396 0.00% 0
1960 49.07% 9,384 50.93% 9,739 0.00% 0

In the Missouri House of Representatives, Cape Girardeau County is divided into two legislative districts, both of which are represented by Republicans.

Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

  • District 147 – Consists of most of the city of Cape Girardeau and a small sliver of the mostly rural stretch of Highway 74 to Dutchtown. The seat is currently vacant after Wallingford resigned in January 2022.

Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end In the Missouri Senate, all of Cape Girardeau County is a part of Missouri's 27h District and is currently represented by Holly Thompson Rehder (R-Sikeston. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Federal

[edit]

All of Cape Girardeau County is included in Missouri's 8th Congressional District and is currently represented by Jason Smith (R-Salem) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Smith was elected to a fifth term in 2020 over Democratic challenger Kathy Ellis. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Cape Girardeau County, along with the rest of the state of Missouri, is represented in the U.S. Senate by Josh Hawley (R-Columbia) and Roy Blunt (R-Strafford). Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Blunt was elected to a second term in 2016 over then-Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Political culture

[edit]

Template:PresHead Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresRow Template:PresFoot

Cape Girardeau County is something of an outlier in southern Missouri. Unusually for a rural Southern county (straddling the Mississippi embayment), it has generally voted Republican since the Civil War, this was due to Unionist sentiment in the county. In contrast, much of southern Missouri was solidly Democratic for much of the 20th century before swinging heavily Republican at the turn of the millennium.

After voting for Lincoln in 1864 and Grant in 1868, Cape Girardeau County voted Democratic four times in a row. Since 1888, it has voted Democratic only in Franklin Roosevelt's and Lyndon Johnson's 40-state landslides of 1932, 1936, and 1964; in the three-way race in 1912 (when it gave Woodrow Wilson a plurality); and for Missouri native Harry Truman in 1948. Unlike most demographically similar counties, it rejected Jimmy Carter in 1976; Carter is the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of the county's vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Like most areas throughout rural Missouri, voters in Cape Girardeau County generally adhere to socially and culturally conservative principles which have influenced their shift to Republicans. In 2004, Missourians voted on a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman—it overwhelmingly passed Cape Girardeau County with 83.19 percent of the vote. The initiative passed the state with 71 percent of support, as Missouri became the first state to ban same-sex marriage. In 2006, Cape Girardeau County voted against a state constitutional amendment to fund and legalize embryonic stem cell research, with 63.12 percent opposed. The initiative narrowly passed the state with 51 percent of support, and Missouri became one of the first states to approve such research. Cape Girardeau County's voters have supported such populist causes as increasing the minimum wage. In 2006, Cape Girardeau County voted to increase the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour with 60.04 percent of the vote. The proposition strongly passed every county in Missouri, with 75.94 percent voting in favor. (During the same election, voters in five other states also strongly approved increases in the minimum wage.)

Missouri presidential preference primaries

[edit]

2020

[edit]

The 2020 presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties were held in Missouri on March 10. On the Democratic side, former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Delaware) both won statewide and carried Cape Girardeau County by a wide margin. Biden went on to defeat President Donald Trump in the general election. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Incumbent President Donald Trump (R-Florida) faced a primary challenge from former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, but won both Cape Girardeau County and statewide by overwhelming margins. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

2016

[edit]

The 2016 presidential primaries for both the Republican and Democratic parties were held in Missouri on March 15. Businessman Donald Trump (R-New York) narrowly won the state overall, but Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) carried a plurality of the vote in Cape Girardeau County. Trump went on to win the nomination and the presidency. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-New York) narrowly won statewide, but Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) carried a majority of the vote in Cape Girardeau County. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

2012

[edit]

The 2012 Missouri Republican Presidential Primary's results were nonbinding on the state's national convention delegates. Voters in Cape Girardeau County supported former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania), who finished first in the state at large, but eventually lost the nomination to former Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts). Delegates to the congressional district and state conventions were chosen at a county caucus, which selected a delegation favoring Santorum. Incumbent President Barack Obama easily won the Missouri Democratic Primary and renomination. He defeated Romney in the general election.

2008

[edit]

In 2008, the Missouri Republican Presidential Primary was closely contested, with Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) prevailing and eventually winning the nomination. However, former Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) won a plurality in Cape Girardeau County. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

Then-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) received more votes than any candidate from either party in Cape Girardeau County during the 2008 presidential primary. Despite initial reports that Clinton had won Missouri, Barack Obama (D-Illinois), also a Senator at the time, narrowly defeated her statewide and later became that year's Democratic nominee, going on to win the presidency. Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box candidate with party link Template:Election box end

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

<references />

[edit]

Template:Geographic Location

Template:Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Template:Geographical features of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Template:Missouri

Template:Coord

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.niidae.com/index.php?title=Cape_Girardeau_County,_Missouri&oldid=69034"